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Teacher Education students from Leeds Trinity University have delivered interventions across five primary schools in Bradford, as part of a project designed to address deep-seated literacy inequalities in one of England’s most deprived local authorities.
The Literacy Leads programme, now in its second year, is run by Neesie, a Bradford-based charity supporting single mothers and disadvantaged communities. Leeds Trinity’s School of Education and Childhood started supporting Literacy Leads this year and eight trainee teacher students were selected to deliver key literacy skills such as phonics, reading, writing, and comprehension to children facing barriers, such as poverty and English as an additional language.
The students also worked with the pupils’ parents to help them become active supporters of their children’s learning and engage more meaningfully with the schools. So far this year, the programme has led to improved reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary development in both children and caregivers, allowing children to access the full curriculum with confidence, as well as increased school engagement, with 50% of participating parents committing to volunteering within schools.
The programme has gained national recognition, with Leeds Trinity and Neesie representatives presenting a policy paper to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, based on the findings of the programme last month. They were also invited to Parliament by Dr Simon Opher MP, who is known for raising awareness of the importance of caregivers’ literacy skills in improving children’s outcomes, to discuss its impact and future.
Jo Hopton, Deputy Head of School of Education and Childhood at Leeds Trinity University said: “The Literacy Leads programme has had a clear positive impact on the families involved, resulting in improved confidence, easier communication, and stronger engagement with schools. It fills me with pride that our trainee teachers have been at the heart of such a successful initiative, supporting pupils in disadvantaged communities to overcome barriers to achieving their full potential, and placing parents at the heart of their children’s learning journeys.
“It has offered our trainee teachers the opportunity to make a real difference, while allowing them to develop their confidence and classroom readiness. This underpins Leeds Trinity’s commitment to offering meaningful work experience opportunities to our teacher trainees, which upholds our reputation for teaching excellence.”
As part of Leeds Trinity’s career-led education which has seen placements embedded in all courses since 1975, the work with Literacy Leads has given meaningful professional experience opportunities for the eight students involved. School staff described the students as “exceptional role models” and “a vital extension to the teaching team”.
The programme will run next year with a new group of student teachers and more cohorts of pupils and parents set to benefit from the interventions.